Tag Botany

‘Foray’ draws scientists to Wisconsin in search of mushrooms, fellowship

Now in its 44th year, the Smith Lake States Mycological Foray gathers mushroom experts to collect samples, share mycological gossip and debate the evolution of these enigmatic organisms.

Autumn fades on the prairie

The final days of fall bring their own unique colors and textures, stark yet lovely, to the Curtis Prairie at UW–Madison's Arboretum.

Researchers find value in unusual type of plant material

UW-Madison scientists have shown that a recently-discovered variety of lignin, catechyl lignin (C-lignin), has attributes that could make it well-suited as the starting point for a range of bioproducts.

In dangerous fungal family’s befriending of plants, a story of loss

Researchers show that gene loss — not the evolution of new genes — helped drive the fly amanita mushroom into its symbiotic relationship with plants.

An ocean apart, carnivorous pitcher plants create similar communities

Asian pitchers transplanted to Massachusetts bogs can mimic the living communities of natives so well that the pitcher plant mosquito — a specialized insect that evolved to complete its life cycle exclusively in North American pitchers — lays eggs in the impostors, new research shows.

Greenhouses contend with the climate to keep plants growing

The university's greenhouses, which include plants from all over the world, provide study material for botany and horticulture courses and the precisely controlled climates required for research experiments.

Valuable potato specimens transferred to Wisconsin State Herbarium

A large collection of potato specimens have been transferred from the U.S. Potato Genebank in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, to the Wisconsin State Herbarium at UW–Madison, which has 1.3 million specimens.

Longtime botany greenhouse director Mo Fayyaz to retire

Mo Fayyaz is retiring in August after 33 years as the distinguished director of the botany department greenhouse and botanical gardens.

Peanut family secret for making chemical building blocks revealed

As you bite into your next peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chew on this: The peanut you’re eating has a secret.

Rediscovered mosses document changing Wisconsin landscape

The Wisconsin State Herbarium at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has discovered a collection of more than 2,000 mosses from the turn of the 20th century, lost to time in a cabinet inside Birge Hall, where the herbarium is housed.

New center brings together biologists, engineers to improve crops

The phenotyping center at the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center aims to develop new ways to measure plants and address novel questions about what factors influence crop performance.

Hugh Iltis, UW’s ‘battling botanist,’ dies at 91

Passionate, articulate and informed, Iltis was opinionated, sometimes argumentative, but always a fearless defender of the natural world he revered.

Tropical moth alights in UW’s Botany Garden, a Wisconsin first

Botany Professor Edgar Spalding spotted a white-tipped black moth in the UW–Madison Botanical Garden, the first recorded observation in Wisconsin of the tropical species.